To the people who only see the downsides of HODLing Bitcoin

[buwaytress]

Never truer words spoken about using Bitcoin. The maxis and the shillers and the Bitcoiners and whatever sort of people including myself can tish pish posh on how someone else chooses to use Bitcoin but the fact remains, if you or I did not use it, in the little ways we do, as often as we can, there would not be the sort of attention and awareness we have today for Bitcoin.

All the drama and the arguments, all the posturing and the evangelisation. If we didn't use Bitcoin, and didn't continue to use it, these things would not exist.

So the next time you see someone asking for Bitcoin for even the smallest thing. Go ahead and support it. New creator on the forum? New item being made and for sale? Buy it. Merit it.

[Wakate]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

Bitcoin is a movement that attracts "The Cabal" to where the people are. Currently, we now have Black Rock and the largest asset managers having investments in Bitcoin, and Trump and other politicians talking seriously about Bitcoin. Ten years ago suggesting that that would happen would be laughable.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I can see that the movement still continues and those people that think Bitcoin is not going to shock the world are just deceiving themselves. We are yet to see more impressive thoughts many people have about Bitcoin. The adoption keeps increasing which have been making other big billionaires to see a good reasons why they should invest in Bitcoin before it's too late. The journey of Bitcoin is never impressive Bitcoin has time goes on, people have seen reasons why they don't need to miss the opportunity of buying some holding and keeping there portfolio for when the price of going to give them profits.

[GiftedMAN]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

Bitcoin is a movement that attracts "The Cabal" to where the people are. Currently, we now have Black Rock and the largest asset managers having investments in Bitcoin, and Trump and other politicians talking seriously about Bitcoin. Ten years ago suggesting that that would happen would be laughable.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Life is sometimes unpredictable, some will go against something they knew nothing about, all because they are following strict order from the centralized authorities over that same thing, this is one of the first mentality in which many were having towards bitcoin in the first place, it couldn't have been this same achievements on bitcoin we could have been talking about with the political elites and giant financial institutions assuming bitcoin wasn't successful to this day, but the result in it were evident enough to the public and all those who adopted for its use, which is why many now couldn't afford to underestimate the influence from bitcoin.

I think a lot of people misunderstood what Bitcoin stands for because of the rumors they heard from the government and media which has been the major haters of Bitcoin and that is one of the things that has affected the global adoption of Bitcoin followed by the influence of the higher government authorities who finds it difficult to understand nor control Bitcoin investors the way they do to other financial institutions.

Bitcoin has survived the rumors and it still proves that it will be in existence in generations to come as the life span is unmatched to any other cryptocurrency currency so I think those who never believed it will only end in regret while people are still taking advantage of the current dip to accumulate and hold more.

[Wind_FURY]

Never truer words spoken about using Bitcoin. The maxis and the shillers and the Bitcoiners and whatever sort of people including myself can tish pish posh on how someone else chooses to use Bitcoin but the fact remains, if you or I did not use it, in the little ways we do, as often as we can, there would not be the sort of attention and awareness we have today for Bitcoin.

All the drama and the arguments, all the posturing and the evangelisation. If we didn't use Bitcoin, and didn't continue to use it, these things would not exist.

So the next time you see someone asking for Bitcoin for even the smallest thing. Go ahead and support it. New creator on the forum? New item being made and for sale? Buy it. Merit it.

Pardon me for saying, but personally it should take absolutely 100x more than "for even the smallest thing" for me to spend my precious Bitcoin - a censorship-resistant, decentralized, self-sovereign-giving cryptocurrency. Why would I spend Bitcoin on things I don't actually need just to tell everyone in the community that I have "used it". Those laughable virtue signaling people.

Plus HODLing IS using. People who spend their life-savings to HODL Bitcoin as a back-up/fall-back in case the current financial system collapses bring a lot of value to Bitcoin.

[Iranus]

I agree that the purpose of creating bitcoin was for it to be a peer-to-peer currency that does not depend on any 3rd party but as of now, I don't think we can make that happen. Although we have turned bitcoin into a speculative asset for profit, even if we had not turned it into an asset, it would hardly have become a currency. The biggest barrier is the government because they will not allow a currency that is not under their control to be widely circulated and used. So it's not so bad that people turn bitcoin into an asset.

Bitcoin has useful use cases, it's not like tulips so I don't think there will be any bubble here. The Bitcoin ETF is probably proof of that, because if it were truly useless then I don't think an ETF would be proposed and passed.

Anything can be a currency so long as there is a value to it. Your seashells, your stones can be a currency if people are willing to put a value to it. You are confused with the difference between a legal tender and a currency. There are no laws within most jurisdictions that prohibits Bitcoin to be used as a currency. It is purely up to the merchants and the consumer preference.

I’m not sure what’s the comparison is with tulips. Bitcoin ETFs are formed solely because it is volatile, and speculative. It does not attest to its utility. People who are managing the ETFs are concerned primarily with the profits and anything else really doesn’t matter to them.

Your post probably also alludes to how the general public perceives Bitcoin. Over time as the popularity dies down, then you’ll be aware of what truly matters to investors.

As long as there is an agreement and consensus between two parties, anything can be used as currency, I understand that but what I want is to become a legal currency and be mass adoption.

You may be right about the ETF, it doesn't promote the use cases or utility of bitcoin but also doesn't using bitcoin as a currency count as a utility? Many people are having difficulty transferring money or making cross-border payments and bitcoin is helping them do that, isn't that the utility of bitcoin? Even a seashell or a stone can become currency with the consent of both parties, so claiming that bitcoin has no utility is unfair to bitcoin.

[garlonicon]

it should take absolutely 100x more than "for even the smallest thing" for me to spend my precious Bitcoin

That's why we have test networks. For example, you can get 10k tBTC in testnet4, if you guess my pizza brainwallet. And there are other puzzles as well. So: if you don't want "to spend your precious Bitcoin", then you can always throw away some of your "worthless testnet coins". They are very similar to mainnet, you can demonstrate virtually anything you want, without moving real coins.

Also, if you really want to put 0% effort into mining, then you always have regtest. But since testnets can be easily CPU-mined, it is a good opportunity to mine some test coins, which are publicly visible.

[jaberwock]

it just goes to show that value and uniqueness will always break through regardless of the competition and resistance it faces. What made Bitcoin to survive at the time most of these cabals where against it till this moment when a lot of them are now advocating for it adoption and getting bullish about it is because of it uniqueness of being decentralized and having no central person they could point hands on to politicize in any way. It's surely a rewarding journey for all bitcoinner that have been in the system this while and now watching it become a serious consideration for most big global figures as a source of preservation of her wealth.

What competition? No, BTC isn't involved in the competition between the sea of altcoins and tokens, or other types of species found in this world of cryptos. With what characteristic it has, it is automatically disqualified or over-qualified for it to still be included in the competition .

having no central person they could point hands on to politicize in any way

What about Trump, Biden, and their involvement in Bitcoin? Things have changed through the years but this isn't a bad thing because this can mean that BTC will now be more legal and accepted. And don't worry because BTC is still decentralized and will remain as is. Apart from that, or apart from BTC, I heard that the Blockchain Technology is also being used on politics in order to attain more transparency. That is obviously a good thing right?

[dzungmobile]

What competition? No, BTC isn't involved in the competition between the sea of altcoins and tokens, or other types of species found in this world of cryptos. With what characteristic it has, it is automatically disqualified or over-qualified for it to still be included in the competition .

Altcoins include forks from Bitcoin, try to compete against Bitcoin and to beat Bitcoin. Bitcoin itself does not need to do the opposite, compete against altcoins.

Altcoin teams know that their projects are lack of quality, dedication for development and they want to make short term hype by naming their projects like Bitcoin forks or Bitcoin killers. Even so most altcoin projects fail and die with time because names can not help for development, demand and adoption in long term.

What about Trump, Biden, and their involvement in Bitcoin? Things have changed through the years but this isn't a bad thing because this can mean that BTC will now be more legal and accepted. And don't worry because BTC is still decentralized and will remain as is. Apart from that, or apart from BTC, I heard that the Blockchain Technology is also being used on politics in order to attain more transparency. That is obviously a good thing right?

They can have more or less, positive or negative, policy contributions for Bitcoin over years but they can not do serious thing to kill Bitcoin. It's because Bitcoin decentralization which is a strongest specification of this blockchain.

Bitcoin after many years has grown up a lot, matured considerably with time and with Bitcoin Spot ETFs this year, it has already become strong enough to survive and exist in future.

[ranochigo]

As long as there is an agreement and consensus between two parties, anything can be used as currency, I understand that but what I want is to become a legal currency and be mass adoption.

It is a legal currency but it is not a legal tender. Generally I don’t think Bitcoin will become a legal tender at least widely. In terms of mass adoption, there is nothing to adopt if the general mindset is for people to make a quick buck and just don’t use it.

Going back to your original response, legal tender or mass adoption is not exactly the threshold for a P2P currency to take off. There is no reason why we should shift the goal post to that far and it is better for us to be realistic and accept that either of which may never be possible.

You may be right about the ETF, it doesn't promote the use cases or utility of bitcoin but also doesn't using bitcoin as a currency count as a utility? Many people are having difficulty transferring money or making cross-border payments and bitcoin is helping them do that, isn't that the utility of bitcoin? Even a seashell or a stone can become currency with the consent of both parties, so claiming that bitcoin has no utility is unfair to bitcoin.

You said that Bitcoin is not on track to becoming a P2P currency and further used ETFs to substantiate its worth.

I did not say that Bitcoin has no utility. The fact that ‘hodling’ has become so common basically means that people are treating it akin to an asset. The primary argument is that Bitcoin should be treated as an asset and it should not be used. I did say that Bitcoin should be used and that is where the value comes from.

Bitcoin ETF argument is actually fairly flawed as a counter point because it is precisely what fund managers are encouraging. Purchasing up tons of Bitcoins and essentially locking them in funds. This further cements its status as a speculative asset.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

Yes, it's true that with the physical impact and massive pump in the price change of Bitcoin for the past years have drawn global attention as an asset most suitable for long term investment. Because ever since the likes of Elon Musk, the most richest man in the world and Michael J. Saylor, the CEO of Microstrategy, the company known to owned the highest amount of Bitcoin ventured into crypto space, I was more confident that it will draw the attention of like-minded billionaires into it, which will foster the creation of an enabling environment for cryptocurrency entirely, hence, my only advice to those who always see the downside side of Bitcoin holding will be to not forget that Bitcoin is an asset with a more brighter future, and as such, the earlier they take advantage of it now, the better for them.

[Wind_FURY]

Yes, it's true that with the physical impact and massive pump in the price change of Bitcoin for the past years have drawn global attention as an asset most suitable for long term investment. Because ever since the likes of Elon Musk, the most richest man in the world and Michael J. Saylor, the CEO of Microstrategy, the company known to owned the highest amount of Bitcoin ventured into crypto space, I was more confident that it will draw the attention of like-minded billionaires into it, which will foster the creation of an enabling environment for cryptocurrency entirely, hence, my only advice to those who always see the downside side of Bitcoin holding will be to not forget that Bitcoin is an asset with a more brighter future, and as such, the earlier they take advantage of it now, the better for them.

A "brighter future", but how? Is merely because of the potential for selling your coins at a higher price than your average entry price? Or is it more? I believe our philosophy for HODLing should not merely be about Bitcoin is an "investment". It should also be Bitcoin as a basis for a financial system which could bring forth real social and political changes around the world.

[shield132]

If everyone wasn't skeptical about bitcoin back then, then everyone who were aware of bitcoin would have already been rich by now. Even now that bitcoin has proved itself to bounce back from any dip, there are still people who think every dip is the last of bitcoin before it totally ceases to exist.

There will always be FUD spread by other people it will be up to you to believe that or not.

That's because many people have wrong information about Bitcoin and many of them think that Bitcoin is a scam, a pyramid and a ponzi while none of this is true. Too many people believe whatever they read on the first page of Google or shared by their friends on facebook. People don't check the authenticity of the information source. Sometimes these people buy Bitcoin but they always have the fear and expectation that Bitcoin will fall because as they claim it's scam.
Btw I always suggest such people to open short position on futures trading. If they think that Bitcoin is scam and it will soon become zero, then they should risk short position on futures, am I wrong?

But if you don't HODL Bitcoin as a form of escape from the exploitative nature of fiat, how does Bitcoin itself will be valued if it isn't being valued itself?

Plus ser, do you actually believe that we're HODLing merely to "Go To The Moon"? There are many people that do that, but its effect on Bitcoin is the same. It's being valued and therefore it has value.

If we don't HODL Bitcoin but use it massively to make transactions in our everyday life, this will automatically skyrocket the demand on the coin. I support HOLDing but not HODLing.
Imagine that we want to eat apple and you are an apple producer. If you HODL apples, the price of apples will go high because of high demand and low supply but at the same time, people will start to look for alternatives because it's getting harder to get apples because you HODL them. If you don't HODL them but hold them, then demand will still be high, people won't start looking for alternatives and people will still be able to pay more and eat more.

[darkangel11]

It's really hard to find people who see downsides of holding bitcoin on a forum like this one
Usually people who are here are either into holding, mining, trading, or all of these together.
If any of you know any downsides of holding bitcoin, I'd be happy to hear them out, because I haven't seen any reasonable ones. Of course it's best to spend all the money you have and not invest at all because all forms of investment carry a degree of risk, but if you have to invest bitcoin is probably the best thing you can buy.

[tread93]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

Bitcoin is a movement that attracts "The Cabal" to where the people are. Currently, we now have Black Rock and the largest asset managers having investments in Bitcoin, and Trump and other politicians talking seriously about Bitcoin. Ten years ago suggesting that that would happen would be laughable.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Its definitely something for the history books, but to witness it first hand is very exciting. A lot of folks have mixed feelings about all of this, I think its great. Bitcoin is clearly heading in the right direction and anyone who says otherwise is missing the train. Bitcoin is incredibly famous and famous attracts famous for sure. Something that is unstoppable and can have no real interference is like having a superpower. Bitcoin is powerful!

[buwaytress]

So the next time you see someone asking for Bitcoin for even the smallest thing. Go ahead and support it. New creator on the forum? New item being made and for sale? Buy it. Merit it.

Pardon me for saying, but personally it should take absolutely 100x more than "for even the smallest thing" for me to spend my precious Bitcoin - a censorship-resistant, decentralized, self-sovereign-giving cryptocurrency. Why would I spend Bitcoin on things I don't actually need just to tell everyone in the community that I have "used it". Those laughable virtue signaling people.

Plus HODLing IS using. People who spend their life-savings to HODL Bitcoin as a back-up/fall-back in case the current financial system collapses bring a lot of value to Bitcoin.

No need to apologise for using Bitcoin the way you want to.

I say what I say (and do what I do) because I've always held that it's the unsung many going about their daily routine using Bitcoin that we're where we are. The guy who gave me my first Bitcoin lived like this, and is unknown, like all the guys I knew giving and spending their coins from years ago. The pizza guy lived like that. Antonoupoulos, the Bitcoin educator I feel is probably responsible for tens of thousands of new users lived like this, and was famously mocked some years back for having no Bitcoin of his own (he since was donated some and I believe also hodls now ).

I did say... no need to rate or judge how anyone uses it =) This isn't about virtue signalling. It is literally about putting Bitcoin to use, for what it was meant for. P2P cash anyone? Not sure where you got that I was asking people to tell the world they were using it. So yes, I applaud people like you, but I celebrate those who may never hold, but who continue to validate Bitcoin's existence in their own small ways.

[Agbe]

It takes bold and brave people to invest in bitcoin with a very big large amount. And government thought bitcoin is not legit so they were afraid to adopt and invest in bitcoin and individual business men who are risk takers invested in it and making gain from it and NJ ow that they have discovered that the digital currency is making waves and the poor individuals are using it to enter the middle class so now they are coming to join the innovation. And as I said, if US accept bitcoin, it will help bitcoin in many areas and countries will follow suit. Many people that were against bitcoin now are coming back to bitcoin so the next  3 years to come, bitcoin will be hot asset. And those who will still hodling at that time will make good gain. The downside of bitcoin now is a good example of purchase more.

[GiftedMAN]

It's really hard to find people who see downsides of holding bitcoin on a forum like this one
Usually people who are here are either into holding, mining, trading, or all of these together.
If any of you know any downsides of holding bitcoin, I'd be happy to hear them out, because I haven't seen any reasonable ones. Of course it's best to spend all the money you have and not invest at all because all forms of investment carry a degree of risk, but if you have to invest bitcoin is probably the best thing you can buy.

It's obvious that Most people who talk about the downsides of Bitcoin may not even know what Bitcoin is all about and it is possible you may not find anyone here on the forum who will boldly talk about the downsides of Bitcoin. The difference between Bitcoin investment and other investments out there is the privacy and the price movement of Bitcoin but the risk is no difference from other investments but people see it as scam because they are too ignorant to adapt to digital currency which is what it represents.

[Wind_FURY]

So the next time you see someone asking for Bitcoin for even the smallest thing. Go ahead and support it. New creator on the forum? New item being made and for sale? Buy it. Merit it.

Pardon me for saying, but personally it should take absolutely 100x more than "for even the smallest thing" for me to spend my precious Bitcoin - a censorship-resistant, decentralized, self-sovereign-giving cryptocurrency. Why would I spend Bitcoin on things I don't actually need just to tell everyone in the community that I have "used it". Those laughable virtue signaling people.

Plus HODLing IS using. People who spend their life-savings to HODL Bitcoin as a back-up/fall-back in case the current financial system collapses bring a lot of value to Bitcoin.

No need to apologise for using Bitcoin the way you want to.

I say what I say (and do what I do) because I've always held that it's the unsung many going about their daily routine using Bitcoin that we're where we are. The guy who gave me my first Bitcoin lived like this, and is unknown, like all the guys I knew giving and spending their coins from years ago. The pizza guy lived like that. Antonoupoulos, the Bitcoin educator I feel is probably responsible for tens of thousands of new users lived like this, and was famously mocked some years back for having no Bitcoin of his own (he since was donated some and I believe also hodls now ).

If you earned that Bitcoin in Bitcoin and use it to gamble in your favorite casino, or purchase a collectible in the forum, then that's OK in my opinion. But if you use fiat to buy Bitcoin to use that to spend on "for even the smallest thing", then that's an inefficient use of resources, just spend the fiat in fiat unless you don't have a choice but to use a decentralized, censorship-resistant cryptocurrency - like purchasing something from the Dark Markets.

I did say... no need to rate or judge how anyone uses it =) This isn't about virtue signalling. It is literally about putting Bitcoin to use, for what it was meant for. P2P cash anyone? Not sure where you got that I was asking people to tell the world they were using it. So yes, I applaud people like you, but I celebrate those who may never hold, but who continue to validate Bitcoin's existence in their own small ways.

P2P Cash or Store of Value = using is using. It's those people who believe that they're in the right path who are laughable when in fact we don't actually know what the right path is, because we truly don't know what Bitcoin actually is yet.

[buwaytress]

If you earned that Bitcoin in Bitcoin and use it to gamble in your favorite casino, or purchase a collectible in the forum, then that's OK in my opinion. But if you use fiat to buy Bitcoin to use that to spend on "for even the smallest thing", then that's an inefficient use of resources, just spend the fiat in fiat unless you don't have a choice but to use a decentralized, censorship-resistant cryptocurrency - like purchasing something from the Dark Markets.
~
P2P Cash or Store of Value = using is using. It's those people who believe that they're in the right path who are laughable when in fact we don't actually know what the right path is, because we truly don't know what Bitcoin actually is yet.

I've been earning in Bitcoin since 2016 as a freelancer, so I'm actually just skipping the step of using fiat to buy Bitcoin -- unfortunately, because I only earn in Bitcoin, I do have sell the majority of it to pay my bills. But if I could use my Bitcoin to pay for whatever it is I need to pay for, I do. So that means I sell what I need to pay the things I couldn't use Bitcoin for, but yes, I set aside what I can for things I know I eventually need to or actually what I want to.

Food delivery? Groceries? We all need to do that. But instead of selling my coin for fiat, if I can use Bitrefill, or Just Eat (which accepts Bitcoin) -- then yeah, that to me is "even the smallest thing". It's definitely inefficient. My life would be more efficient, easier if I just sold a big chunk and then paid with my 0 fee debit card. But I really like the idea of normalising Bitcoin for spending. Again, not saying everyone should do it, but saying a lot of us are doing it, and I like to think it's this that really is helping Bitcoin prove its case again and again.

But I guess we can agree to go our different ways of using Bitcoin. We do seem to agree that we don't know what the right path is =)

[pawanjain]

What's wrong with HODLing bitcoin ? are there people who see downsides for HODLing bitcoin ?
I don't think there is anything wrong in holding bitcoin for a long term.
I know that we should be usin bitcoin for making payments and that's the purpose of bitcoin since inception but it's more of a store of value now.
Many people perfer to hold bitcoin because that's what brings them profits and thus is valuable to them in this way.
So HODLing is not that bad afterall.